Puccini’s Tosca is a work that seems to turn the boldest directors conservative.  Up until now the only one I had seen that wasn’t set in Rome in 1800 was Philip Himmelmann’s production in Baden-Baden.  That starred Kristine Opolais and so does Martin Kušej’s 2022 production at the Theater an der Wien.  And like the Baden-Baden work this sets the piece in some sort of Christofascist dystopia but a very different one from Himmelmann.

There are no churches, palaces or castles.  The setting is a bleak, snowy landscape wit a blasted tree decorated with body parts and a caravan that serves as Scarpia’s digs in Act 2.  The parts of the Sacristan and Sciarrone are merged into one; basically Scarpia’s chief sidekick and the leader of a gang of masked and heavily armed thugs.  Countess Attavanti, a silent role, appears at intervals.  There are some other minor changes to the libretto; Attavanti’s fan becomes a dress, things are hidden “in the snow” rather than “in the chapel”,  Cavaradossi sings “Io de sospiri” and Sciarrone gets the jailer’s music but mostly the text remains intact.

Act 1 is probably the weakest act as the “churchy” bits don’t make a lot of sense.  Some bits work though.  Having Attavanti lurking in the background and finally being arrested rather brutally by Sciarrone’s goons is an interesting touch.  The tree decorated with body parts and an icon of the Madonna makes a statement of what religion is/means in this context.  Tosca is less the grande dame we often see and more a rather flighty/flouncy young woman.  But a chorus, looking rather as if they had escaped from Delicatessen, singing a Te Deum is decidedly odd.

Act 2 is either shockingly effective or shockingly over the top depending on your taste.  It’s set in Scarpia’s caravan and after the obligatory torture scenes which, frankly, are less over the top than many conventional Toscas, the lady herself shows up in a short, low cut dress, stockings, boots and a faux fur wrap.  I can think of a lot of famous Toscas who would look ridiculous but Opolais pulls the look off rather well.  Her interaction with Scarpia has her within lingerie distance of actually giving into him.  During “Vissi d’arte” she sheds most of her clothes and ends up straddling Sarpia, who seems more amused than aroused.  It’s creepy, it’s nasty, it’s very bloody and it teeters right on the edge of sexploitation.  I think it’s effective but I can see that opinion is unlikely to be universal.  And Attavanti is around to hear Tosca shop her brother.

Act 3 by contrast is pretty straightforward.  We are back with the gruesome tree.  Sciarrone carries out another execution before turning his attention to Cavaradossi.  The chemistry in the build up to the shooting between Cavaradossi and Tosca is pretty intense.  She’s clearly very excited and convinced that she’s managed the job. Equally clearly he isn’t.  The execution is a single shot to the head from Sciarrone.  We get the usual “realisation” scene from Tosca and shouting in the distance about Scarpia but it’s Attavanti who arrives to finish things off.  An interesting and believable touch I think.

By and large I think the production concept works.  The second and third acts are better than the first but it’s pretty rare to get a high concept production where absolutely everything works.  It’s also carried along by some very strong acting.

The singing too is first class.  Jonathan Tetelman is everything one could want in a Cavaradossi.  He’s bright toned, focussed, powerful and ardent.  It’s the sort of tenor singing that does raise the hairs on the back of your neck.  Opolais is a very good Tosca.  She can be sweet toned and beautiful when appropriate but she’s not at all afraid to get ugly.  The Act 3 duet between these two is very fine.  Gábor Bretz’ Scarpia is interesting.  Most Scarpias are either thoroughly nasty or a bit tongue in cheek.  He’s not really either.  I think the word I want is “sardonic”.  He finds the whole thing quite amusing (until he gets a knife in the guts).  So his singing is not histrionic, it’s controlled and somewhat ironic.  Rafal Pawnuk, singing Sciarrone, is a proper bass and exudes menace.  The supporting cast is fine and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor play their minor part well.  Marc Albrecht goes for a full blooded Puccini sound and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien back him up very well indeed.  Musically this is all top notch.

It’s nicely filmed too by Tiziano Mancini and the technical values are top Blu-ray standard with the Surround (DTS-HD-MA) and stereo tracks showcasing the rich orchestral sound very well.  The booklet has a synopsis, a track listing and notes which do explain a fair amount about Kušej’s vision.  Subtitle options are Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, Korean and Japanese.

This will not be everyone’s cup of tea but I found it refreshing, especially after being rather bored by the recent COC Tosca which seemed to lack blood, guts and sex.  This one doesn’t!

Catalogue number: Unitel Blu-ray 809704